www.ewn.co.za

Several hundred Afghans chanting "Death to America" rallied outside a mosque in the Afghan capital on Monday to protest against an American church’s plan to burn a copy of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The protesters, mostly students from religious schools, gathered outside Kabul’s Milad ul-Nabi mosque to condemn plans by the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Centre to burn copies of the Koran to mark the ninth anniversary of the attacks against the United States.

"We call on America to stop desecrating our Holy Koran," student Wahidullah Nori told Reuters. He said the street protests condemning the church would continue "every day."

U.S. President Barack Obama has made efforts to reach out to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims since taking office last year, most recently hosting Muslim leaders at the White House at the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in August.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said the "United States government in no way condones such acts of disrespect against the religion of Islam, and is deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups."

"Americans from all religious and ethnic backgrounds reject this offensive initiative by this small group in Florida, a great number of American voices are protesting the hurtful statements made by this organisation," it said in a statement.

A proposal to build an Islamic centre and mosque two blocks from the site of the worst of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York has stirred heated debate in the United States.

Opponents of the plan say it is insensitive to families of the victims of the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda.

U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan soon after those attacks for harbouring al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

Demonstrations and riots triggered by reported desecration of the Koran are not infrequent in Afghanistan. The most violent protests came after cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

In January this year, Afghan troops shot dead eight demonstrators and wounded 13 in southern Helmand province in a riot triggered by reports that foreign troops had desecrated the Koran during a raid. A spokesman for NATO forces denied the report.

Agriculture Minister Tina Joemant-Pettersson on Monday said South Africa may minimise the competitive advantage of EU countries, provided it exports more food to China.

She leaves for China on Tuesday to conclude agreements with her counterparts in the country, which she views as a major potential trading partner.

Farmers in the European Union and the United States are subsidised, making it harder for players in the local agriculture sector to export.

However, agriculture is not as heavily subsidised in countries like China and Russia.

Joemat-Pettersson says while raw goods are not in great demand in China, there is a huge market
for processed foods.

“The market expansion includes agro-processing and agri-business,” she added.

Joematt-Pettersson said a protocol has already been signed with Russia making it easier to export goods like canned fruit and vegetables there.

Spain cannot trust Sunday’s truce announcement by armed Basque separatist group ETA and will continue to pursue its members, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said on national television on Monday.

The cease-fire announcement on Sunday could well be an attempt by ETA to legitimise its political arm Batasuna ahead of municipal elections in 2011, but Batasuna must break with ETA or have them disarm before this can happen, Rubalcaba said.

"It could well be a step by step strategy. (Batasuna) have to get the message: either they break definitively with ETA or they convince ETA to definitively stop its violence," Rubalcaba said in an interview with Spain’s TVE1.

ETA has killed more than 850 people in its attempt to carve out an independent state in northern Spain and southwest France, but has recently been crippled by arrests of its members and a rise in support among Basques for a democratic solution to the independence movement.

"The announcement clearly intends to hide their weakness, because if they do not hide their weakness, the calls within their own grassroots support for them to disarm will grow," the Interior Minister said.

"This message (for ETA to disarm) has taken on more urgency ahead of local elections next year, which presents the political wing with an opportunity to shore up their power and prevent it from being depleted entirely. They are looking into the abyss," said Inigo Gurruchaga, co-author of a 2009 book "Talking to Terrorists-Making Peace in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country."

ETA has broken ceasefires several times in the past, most recently in 2006 when a truce was ended by a deadly bomb attack at Madrid’s airport. Past ceasefires have been seen by analysts as attempts by the organisation to regroup with a view to launching further attacks.

"It looks more like a breathing spell of indeterminate duration rather than something indicative of an actual readiness to engage in (a real peace process)," said Francois Heisbourg of the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research.

The three masked ETA members who announced the cease-fire in a video did not say whether the truce was permanent or why they had decided to stop the attacks.

Rubalcaba said he viewed the term "truce" as dead, because ETA had broken ceasefires three times before, notably with the Madrid airport attack.

"There’s no incentive in talking to ETA, when previous such attempts only gave it a measure of traction. The thinking is ’why bring these people in now, when they’re on their knees?,’ said John Bew, Lecturer at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King’s College, University of London.

The man charged with stealing Bees Roux’s credit cards went on a booze and braai binge hours after the rugby player allegedly killed Tshwane Metro Police Sergeant Ntshimane Mogale, police said on Monday.

Vusi Ntloki appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning. It was alleged he picked up Roux’s wallet at the scene of the crime.

 

It is understood the Blue Bulls prop may have dropped the wallet during the scuffle with Mogale.

 

After Ntloki allegedly picked up Roux’s wallet containing two credit cards, the first transaction was recorded at 2:36am Friday morning at McDonalds in Silverton.

 

Between 10am and 5pm 13 transactions took place at four different bottle stores, two KFC’s, a meat market and a Makro.

 

R4,200 was spent on booze alone and R650 on meat.

 

The 29-year-old Mamelodi man is employed at the Silverlakes Makro – the same store he allegedly spent R3,800 on electronic equipment at.

 

He was arrested on Friday and will remain in custody until he applies for bail next Monday.

STATE’S CASE STRENGTHENED

The National Prosecuting Authority believes Ntloki’s arrest strengthens their murder case against the rugby player.

He has been charged with theft and 12 counts of fraud.

Defense Attorney Rudi Krause revealed the credit card theft during Roux’s bail application last week.

He did so after telling the court his client was acting in self defense during a robbery, suggesting it may have been Metro Police who used the card. 

Roux’s agent James Adams said they would comment on the matter after consulting Krause.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government agreed to a two-tier extension of the lifespans of German nuclear power plants on Sunday after marathon talks laid the groundwork on energy policy.

The agreement ended months of division in the coalition over how long Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants should run beyond current limits, under which the last is due to close by 2021.

Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said after the meeting in Berlin that the lifespans of Germany’s nuclear power stations would be extended by 12 years on average.

"We’ve agreed that older nuclear plants will receive an extension of eight years, and newer ones operating with different technical standards will get a 14-year extension," he told reporters.

The debate has also pitted nuclear power plant operators against environmentalists, about 1,000 of whom staged a protest outside the chancellery where the meeting was held.

The agreement is set to be the cornerstone of Merkel’s broader energy strategy which will be decided later this month.

She has invested much political capital in the strategy, which must be implemented smoothly if she is to reverse her government’s slump in opinion polls in time for a string of important elections early next year.

That will not be easy as Germans are sceptical about the safety risks of nuclear power and unresolved questions about nuclear waste storage.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Environmentalists, however, will likely applaud the decision made on Sunday, as part of the deal, to steer public and private support to Germany’s renewable energy industry.

Roettgen said the agreement foresaw long-term support for developing renewables, a pet project of his that is now to be boosted to the tune of 3 to 4 billion euros annually.

He said the deal would see utility companies pay nine euros per megawatt-hour of nuclear electricity to support renewables.

The contribution from utility companies should amount to 300 per year in 2011 and 2012, then drop to 200 million euros annually from 2013 to 2016, a government official said earlier.

Germany’s main utility companies include E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall.

Sunday’s meeting also set down some of the specifics of a separate nuclear fuel element tax intended to raise 2.3 billion euros ($3.1 billion) a year.

The official, who declined to be named, said the tax would run for six years and be set at 145 euros per gram of uranium and plutonium.

The deal faced immediate criticism from the opposition Social Democrats (SPD), who said they planned a legal challenge if Merkel’s centre-right coalition attempted to pass it into law without approval of the upper house of parliament.

The coalition lost control of the upper house, the Bundesrat, after a regional election defeat in May, and it is unclear whether opposition by the centre-left SPD and Greens could stall the plan once the legislative process is started.

While in power in a previous administration, the two parties passed the law behind the 2021 phase-out date for atomic power which Merkel’s conservatives and their pro-business Free Democrat allies are now seeking to sidestep.

The SPD said on Sunday it would reverse any extension of the nuclear plants’ lifespans if the party returned to power.

Merkel plans to make a statement on Monday, and Roettgen and Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle are expected to reveal further details of the plan.

The head of the orthopaedic department at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg has decided to operate on 15-year-old Emma Pringle on Tuesday if she is stable and ready.

A family member told Talk Radio 702 on Monday morning that Emma fractured her spine during a diving accident at her Edenglen home last week but still had not been operated on.

The girl’s family claim the surgery was delayed because of the civil servants strike.

She was told she might never walk again.

The Department of Defence was quick to send a top specialist to assess her condition and there was good news for Emma and her family when the hospital’s CEO Barney Selebano said her surgery might take place as early as Tuesday.

Selebano denied that the 15-year-old’s operation was delayed because of a shortage of support staff at the facility. Instead, he said doctors were monitoring her progress and waiting for the right time to operate.

However, the teenager’s mother Heather said she was told a different story.

“On Thursday night they said they might on operate then. Then on Friday when I spoke to the doctor he said that if the strike was over we’d be able to operate early next week, but because the strike’s not over we won’t be able to operate,” she said.

Her father Lambert has thanked non-striking nurses for looking after his daughter during the industrial action.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

World Cup winning Springbok coach Jake White has launched his bid to oust Peter de Villiers from the Bok coaching job by offering his services to the South African Rugby Union.

According to reports, White has said he is ready to take over next week if asked to do so.

He said he has spoken to SARU President Regan Hoskins and also approached his World Cup consultant, Eddie Jones.

The Times also reported that White said former conditioning coach, Derek Coetzee, was willing to come on board, but the Free State University lecturer, has since told Eyewitness News he has not spoken to White about it and has no desire to return.

In an interview with Supersport.co.za, White said Allister Coetzee should be Springbok coach, but not before he himself gets the Boks on the right path between now and the World Cup.

SARU said de Villiers will face an official review later this month.

But former Bok captain Bob Skinstad has said it is unfair to put all the blame on de Villiers.

“I don’t think Peter de Villiers is 100 percent to blame for what’s going on at Springbok level at the moment. It’s probably a culmination of him, and a long season, and senior players being injured and I think in some cases the wrong strategy being employed in the game.”

He also rubbished sentiment that some of the players’ best rugby days are behind them.
 
“Victor Matfield, John Smit, Gurthrö Steenkamp were probably the best players on the field on Saturday – you know and they are the guys who played the most rugby…” he said.

Whether a hoax or not, a new documentary about Joaquin Phoenix and his transition from acclaimed, brooding actor to bearded, shambolic hip-hop wannabe has captivated viewers at the Venice film festival.

I’m Still Here was directed by Casey Affleck, a successful actor and Phoenix’s brother-in-law.

The guessing game over whether the picture was genuine documentary or ironic "mockumentary" poking fun at an intolerant and narrow-minded public and press began long before the release of the movie.

It mirrors internet chatter following Phoenix’s now infamous television interview with David Letterman last year, when a confused, mumbling performance also prompted suspicions that it was all an elaborate act.

"I can tell you that there is no hoax," Affleck told reporters after his directorial debut was screened to reporters on Monday in Venice, where it is out of competition.

"That never even entered into my consciousness until other people began to talk about the movie," he added at a briefing where he was asked repeatedly about whether certain scenes, and the movie in general, were genuine.

But he conceded that audiences were likely to be confused.

"I’m very interested to hear those sorts of reactions and I appreciate that point of view, and I understand how a lot of this movie could be confusing in terms of, ’oh well, it seems like something’s real or not real’."

Affleck said Phoenix was in Venice, but was unsure whether he would turn up at the red carpet premiere later in the day.

CANDID CAMERA

Whether real or not, I’m Still Here offers a sometimes excruciating insight into the life of a celebrity and into the mind of Phoenix.

He is at times funny and coherent and at others childish, aggressive and paranoid as he struggles to live with his decision in 2008, which the media greeted with breathless disbelief, to give up acting and take up hip hop.

After his Letterman appearance, Phoenix clasped his head in frustration at how badly it went.

"I’m just going to be a god damned joke forever," he said, before launching into an expletive-ridden tirade and bursting into tears.

The candid film includes footage of him apparently taking drugs, surfing the internet for call girls, hosting prostitutes, diving off a stage to attack a heckler and vomiting.

It also features rap star Sean Combs, who, after several failed attempts on Phoenix’s part to set up a meeting, agrees to listen to a demo of his hip-hop music.

Comb’s face as he listens to three demo tracks is one of the movie’s highlights, and Phoenix leaves crestfallen when Combs makes clear he will not produce his record.

Again, though, reporters asked whether Combs was in on the joke. Affleck replied: "The role that he played in Joaquin’s life was to be the bearer of bad news. He was the hammer that crushed the dream. All of that is a little bit of an act."

Comedian Ben Stiller also appears when he comes to Phoenix’s home to ask him to consider playing a part in his recent movie Greenberg.

Shortly before sweeping to power, Tayyip Erdogan, pledged at the tomb of state founder Ataturk to revive a secular democracy he said was losing the nation’s trust. Turkey would now get the leadership it deserved.

Militant secularists saw his sentiments, etched in the ledger of Ataturk’s mausoleum, as high treason coming from a man who had recently served a jail sentence for Islamist agitation.

Eight years later and facing a new test at the ballot box, Prime Minister Erdogan is a towering figure in Turkish politics; the former Istanbul mayor who challenged the establishment with a reformist agenda that brought the Muslim democracy closer to Europe where his secularist predecessors had failed.

Tainted still by the corruption and mismanagement of the 1990s and lacking a strong leader, the secularist opposition shivers at changes Erdogan has introduced and fears while paying lipservice to democracy he could prove its gravedigger.

"There is no question that Erdogan has put a stamp on Turkey as none of his predecessors have," said Henri Barkey, a Turkey expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"He has made significant changes by marrying piety with the state and he is willing to break some china to get things done."

Turks vote on Sept 12 on plans to reform a constitution rooted in an army coup exactly 30 years earlier. The referendum, though, is as much a vote of confidence in Erdogan, who came to power in 2002 and is likely to seek a third term in 2011.

TURKEY IN THE WORLD

The reforms focus on reorganising the high courts -- a last redoubt for conservative secularists. Erdogan says they meet requirements for EU membership, opponents see an attempt to seize control of the judiciary.

Erdogan will draw core support in the Anatolian heartland.

With its mix of economic prosperity and social conservatism, Konya, a leafy city on the plains of central Turkey, epitomises the rise of an observant Muslim middle class.

In industrial zones on the city’s outskirts, firms that have turned Konya into a business hub by tapping into markets in the Middle East display signs reading "From Turkey to the world."

Billboards along the city’s tree-lined streets advertise public Koran readings during Ramadan -- a sign of an increasingly open religiosity that has mirrored the AK’s ascent.

"Any Turk who loves his nation should vote ’yes’," said shopkeeper Kemal Akkora, who admitted knowing little of the changes. "Erdogan is the greatest prime minister Turkey has had. Turkey is respected in the world, its economy grows strongly."

Ataturk founded modern Turkey on the ruins of the Ottoman empire in 1923. He imposed radical reform, banishing religion from government, promoting the interests of women, changing the alphabet from Arabic to Latin, turning the country to the West.

The army, judges and state bureaucrats were the self-appointed guardians of this legacy.

That rigid edifice changed with the ascent of AK, created with one clear and unchallenged leader as a broad coalition of conservatives, nationalists and liberals disillusioned with traditional parties riven by infighting.

Thanks to market-friendly reforms, AK has transformed Turkey into one of the world’s fastest growing economies with a GDP that has almost tripled in the last eight years.

But under Erdogan, Turkey -- a U.S. ally that occupies a vital geostrategic position between Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East -- has also moved into uncharted territory.

He has pursued a vigorous foreign policy towards the EU but has repositioned Turkey in the Muslim world as a rising power by deepening ties with Iran, Syria and Iraq and by criticising Israel, prompting concerns the NATO member is changing axis.

HAPPY TO BE A TURK

Domestically, changes have been equally dramatic.

Generals and political rivals have been humbled and religious Turks, long the underclass of society, have moved into positions of power. Erdogan’s wife and the wife of President Abdullah Gul both wear headscarves -- redrawing an old debate on the space Islam should have in secular Turkey.

The AK Party considers itself a Muslim version of Europe’s Christian Democrat parties and rejects the Islamist label.

Born of the macho-swagger culture of Istanbul’s Kasimpasa district, Erdogan, a devout Muslim who doesn’t drink or smoke, works crowds and rallies well.

"Think big, you are Turks," is a popular refrain of his that for many could carry echoes of Ataturk’s fatherly exhortation: "Happy is he who can say ’I am a Turk’"

Critics say he is growing increasingly despotic and fear the constitutional changes are part of a creeping Islamist ’coup’.

A multi-billion dollar tax fine levied against Dogan Yayin, Turkey’s largest media group and a frequent critic of AK, has raised some concerns about Erdogan’s democratic credentials.

Cengiz Aktar, a liberal professor at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University, rejects talk of a "Putinisation" of Erdogan.

"He is not a democrat at all. He has autocratic tendencies, but if Erdogan goes for an autocratic presidential system it will be the end of him. Turkey has a vibrant civil society and nobody would follow," Aktar said.

At a recent rally in Konya loudspeakers blasted campaign music and the refrain: "We are walking towards an AK future. Hand in hand, the whole nation is following you, great prime minister Erdogan!"

Turks may argue for years yet over what was going through Erdogan’s mind when he wrote his entry at Ataturk’s tomb, ending then with the salute: "Rest in peace, the Grand Founder."

Retired Bafana Bafana player Neil Tovey said on Monday there was huge room for the team to improve despite a great start to their African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

Pitso Mosimane’s men comfortably defeated Niger 2-0 this past weekend, but spoilt numerous goal-scoring opportunities which could have easily seen the score line rise to four of five.

The former Bafana captain knows that in a tough group, goal difference might become a factor later in the qualifiers.

“The guys look energetic and the guys pass and move the ball well. It’s just a bit disappointing they didn’t score more goals and made one pass too many,” he said.

The team’s next fixture is an away game in Sierra Leone, who surprisingly drew against Egypt in Cairo.

Tovey believes that Bafana can look to qualify by finishing in a strong position in Group G.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

A Cape Town councillor on Monday said he believed some of the victims of a shack fire in Khayelitsha may have survived, had fire fighters arrived sooner.

Six people, including four children, died after their home in Town Two was gutted.

Councillor Mthwalo Mkhutshwana said neighbours tried to extinguish the flames using hosepipes because the Fire and Rescue Services arrived too late.

“If there is a fire, we expect the fire people to assist. When they come earlier, obviously they can make sure that they save those people from the fire,” he said.

However, City Fire and Rescue Services officials have disputed the allegations.

Fire Chief Ian Schnetler said, “It’s within the national standards times for response to residential fires and we were there within six minutes of getting the original call."

(Edited by Lisa Bartlett)

The nationwide public servants’ strike has been suspended pending further talks. The announcement was made on Monday afternoon in Centurion.

However, trade unions have made it clear they have not accepted the government’s offer of 7.5 percent and an R800 housing subsidy.

Civil servants, including teachers and nurses, have been on strike for three weeks with the no work-no pay principle being enforced. About 1.3 million public servants rejected the government’s opening pay offer, pushing for an 8.6 percent increase and a R1,000 housing allowance.

All workers are now expected to return to their posts while negotiations continue. Unions have 21 days to finalise consultation on the draft agreement.

South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) President Thobile Ntola said, “Labour has decided to suspend the strike. This does not mean that we have accepted the state’s offer.”

Independent Labour Caucus chair Chris Klopper said on Monday afternoon a media statement had gone to the caucus members for approval.

Meanwhile, it was unclear when teachers and hospital workers would return to work as the message still had to filter down to all members.

Cellphone messages were being sent to members telling them to arrive for work on Tuesday.

But the Education Department’s Panyaza Lesufi said teachers may not be back on Tuesday.

“Everything will start tomorrow. But on Wednesday I think all systems will be ready,” he said.

The Public Service Association’s Manie de Clercq said the unions have come out on top but they have lost support.

“Let’s also be honest. We are serving the public. We have reached the point where if you continue [further] you may lose public support to a large extent. We have lost support due to the actions of some union members,” he said.

Economists predict the industrial action has cost the country about R1 billion a day.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Monday at least 8,000 mine workers have downed their tools at the Northam Platinum mines in Rustenburg following a breakdown in wage negotiations.

NUM’s Lesiba Seshoka has confirmed that this strike is limited specifically to Northam Platinum mines.

He emphasised that strike would continue at the mine until workers’ wage demands are met.

“Northam has offered us an eight percent [increase] which we have rejected. They said that eight percent should be an offer over two years. We said that we need our 15 percent,” he said.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

Police in Laaiplek on the West Coast on Monday said one of their officers was in a serious condition after being involved in a serious road accident.

The officer was on standby when he was called to a crime scene shortly before midnight on Sunday.

A motorist allegedly ignored a stop street and crashed into his police vehicle about 10 kilometres outside Vredenburg.

The driver of the other vehicle died on impact.

Chief detective Johan Vermeulen said, "he is currently being operated on in West Coast Private Hospital in Vredenburg."

Western Cape Education MEC Donald Grant on Monday said schools in rural communities across the province have been largely unaffected by the ongoing civil servants’ strike.

Donald completed a series of visits to schools in the Karoo this past weekend.

He investigated the impact the strike had on learners, especially matrics who were preparing for their September prelim exams.

Grant said it seemed schools in the Metropole were much more severely affected.

“The impact in the rural areas is minimal. There have been reported stay-aways by teachers in some of our rural schools, but I must say they are very much in the minority,” he added.

(Edited by Lisa Bartlett)

A Taliban suicide bomber rammed his car into a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday killing at least 19 people, police said, in a new wave of attacks by al Qaeda-linked militants.

The recent bombings end a relative lull in militant violence over the past month and turn up the heat on a government overwhelmed by devastating floods that have made millions homeless and hammered the economy.

Nearly 100 people were killed last week in suicide bombings on processions of minority Shi’ite Muslims in the eastern city of Lahore and southwestern city of Quetta.

"It goes to show that the terrorists have no creed except bloodshed and chaos, and are desperately carrying out their agenda regardless of the precarious conditions," Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a meeting of provincial officials.

Pakistan’s Taliban claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack in the town of Lakki Marwat, warning the government not to use lashkar, or militias, to fight the group.

"If they do not stop, then the next target will be members of the lashkar," Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The bomber struck a school van before hitting the rear wall of the police station. The blast turned most of the police station into rubble. Burnt-out cars were flipped on their sides.

"Nineteen people have been killed. There are nine policemen and two children among the dead," said the Information Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

Hussain said 34 people, including 20 policemen, were wounded.

Earlier this year, a suicide bomber blew himself up in an SUV at a volleyball game, killing nearly 100 people in a village near Lakki Marwat in one of the deadliest attacks in the country.

Pakistan’s Taliban have been fighting to topple the U.S.-backed government for years. Their ambitions have grown, complicating the U.S. war on militancy.

Last week, the Pakistani Taliban threatened to launch attacks in the U.S. and Europe "very soon", after U.S. prosecutors charged their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, over a plot that killed seven CIA employees at a U.S. base in Afghanistan last December.

Mehsud is believed to be in the northwest near the Afghan border, described as a global hub for militants.

SCHOOL VAN STRUCK

The army has launched a series of offensives over the last year which it says have weakened the Taliban, although analysts question their effectiveness because militants tend to melt away during crackdowns and establish strongholds elsewhere.

"There need to be consistent and far more targeted military operations. And in particular, there needs to be a focus on the militants’ command and control," said Samina Ahmed, South Asia project director for the International Crisis Group.

The army has raised its profile by leading flood relief efforts, reinforcing the view that civilian governments can’t handle major crises.

"Whatever these poor soldiers can do, they are doing for us. They give us food three times a day, also clothes and other things," said flood victim Naseema Bibi at a camp.

Negotiations between the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and their employers, the Fuel Retailers’ Association (FRA) and Retail Motor Industry (RMI), were continuing on Monday afternoon.

Tens of thousands of workers at petrol stations, workshops, dealerships and motor factories are demanding a 15 percent wage increase, with their employers offering 6.6 percent.

Striking workers earlier demonstrated at garages near O.R. Tambo International Airport and more union members joined the mass action in the Western and Eastern Cape.

Numsa’s Deputy Secretary General Carl Cloete said, “The employers will have to leave their stubbornness and bring their sanity to the negotiations. They will have to bring to the party a sensible proposal because Numsa is ready and flexible to move towards a negotiated settlement.”

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

World Cup winning Springbok fitness coach, Derik Coetzee, has told Eyewitness News he has no aspirations to get involved with the national team again.

Coetzee was part of Jake White’s backroom staff when they hoisted the Webb Ellis trophy in 2007.

According to a report in The Times, White claims to have contacted former consultant Eddie Jones and Coetzee about an offer to coach the Boks to World Cup glory again.

In the report White says he cannot bear to watch South Africa lose to way they have been under Peter de Villiers.

The former Bok coach has signaled his availability by reportedly saying he is ready to lead the side if the South African Rugby Union wants him.

He is also quoted as saying his former conditioning expert, Coetzee, is willing to come on board.

But Coetzee on Monday told Eyewitness News White has not spoken to him about any plan to re-assemble in a bid to take over ahead of the 2011 World Cup.

He added that he is content with his lecturing role at Free State University and contrary to White’s claims he has no desire to return to the Bok setup.

A 15-year-old Edenglen girl’s treatment has been expedited after the defence ministry heeded a call for help.

Emma Pringle fractured her spine during a diving accident at her home last week but her much-needed operation at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg was delayed because of the public servants’ strike.

Emma was told by doctors that she may never walk again.

Her family called Talk Radio 702 on Monday morning desperate for help, saying the teenager could not go into the operating theatre because of a lack of support staff due to the strike.

Emma’s parents Heather and Lambert have been by their daughter’s hospital bedside every day since the accident, rubbing her feet and making sure their daughter was comfortable.

When Eyewitness News visited Emma at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, the teenager was still groggy but said she was feeling much better.

Army specialists were ordered by the Department of Defence to assess her situation.

Her father told Eyewitness News he was grateful his daughter was getting the help she needs.

“They know what the strike is doing all over the country and they’re stepping in. they should be applauded and saluted,” he said.

Her parents have also praised non-striking nursing staff for remaining at their posts.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)

Public service unions are expected to make a much anticipated announcement on Monday afternoon on whether the public servants strike will continue or not.

Unions will hold a media briefing at 4pm to clarify their positions.

There has been much speculation about the outcome of weekend consultations between union leaders and their members.

Now, after weeks of being on strike, unions will announce whether workers have accepted the offer or if they will be holding out for a better deal.

When asked by a reporter if the news was good, Independent Labour Caucus chairperson Chris Kloppers was hesitant to give too much away. But when pressed further he replied that he thinks it is positive news.

Government is offering civil servants a 7.5 percent wage hike as well as an R800 housing allowance.

The strike has been marred by incidents of intimidation and violence which saw schools and hospitals severely affected.

In the most recent incident, a nurse was attacked while on her way to work at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto last week.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)